Sausage-Kale Breakfast Strata ~ by Sarah

I made this for the first time the other day and took it to a breakfast potluck at school.  It is a Pioneer Woman recipe, so it is not fat free.  It got rave reviews.  I liked how I made it the night before and then just had to bake it in the morning.  Kale is growing on me...this is really good!


Ingredients: 
12 whole Eggs
2-1/2 cups Half And Half (or Milk, If You Prefer)
Salt And Pepper, to taste
4 Tablespoons Minced Fresh Oregano (or Parsley, Basil, Etc.)
1 loaf Crusty French Or Italian Bread, Cut Into Cubes
2 pounds Breakfast Sausage Patties, Cooked And Cut Into Cubes
1 bunch (large) Regular Kale, Torn Into Pieces
Olive Oil (for Frying)
16 ounces, weight White Mushrooms, Halved
2-1/2 cups Grated Monterey Jack Cheese

Preparation Instructions: 
*Note: Recipe can easily be halved.

Mix together eggs, half-and-half, salt, pepper, and minced oregano. Set aside. Drizzle olive oil over mushrooms and sprinkle with salt and pepper, then roast in a 425 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat, then throw in kale. Cook for 2 minutes, or until slightly wilted. Remove from heat and set aside. Layer half the bread, half the kale, half the mushrooms, and half the cheese in a large, buttered lasagna pan. Repeat with the other half of all the ingredients, ending with the cheese. Slowly pour egg mixture all over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight if possible. To bake, remove from fridge 20-30 minutes before baking. Replace plastic wrap with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until top is golden brown and slightly crisp.

(Pioneer Woman picture)

If you want to see her step-by-step pictures, you can see her post here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/01/sausage-kale-strata/

Roasted Cherry (or Berry) Dutch Baby with Caramel Sauce

After doing seven hours of cardio in the past five days plus snowboarding and tubing for several hours yesterday, I woke up this morning needing something sugary and full of carbs and calories. Luckily for me, TheKitchn.com had posted a recipe for Dutch Babies (or Pannekoene if you actually want to be fancy and call it by it's Dutch name) with cherries and caramel sauce earlier this week. Because I didn't have any frozen cherries, I used about a cup of frozen blueberries and it worked wonderfully! This recipe isn't quick --it took almost an hour from start to finish-- it's definitely worth the effort! I also don't have a cast iron pan big enough, so I just used an oven safe skillet. Some people commented on the original post that enamel cast iron pots work, too.

PS According to the recipe, it serves 8. I have already eaten half and I'm contemplating more. Keep that in mind if you are trying to serve several people.

I love TheKitchn not only for its recipes, but because their food is always so perfectly photographed!

Roasted Cherry Dutch Baby with Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Sauce
Serves 8

For the Dutch Baby:
1 cup (5 oz) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (2 oz) white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (6 oz) whole or 2% milk
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 12- or 16-oz bag frozen sweet cherries
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons (1 oz) unsalted butter

For the Sauce:
2 tablespoons (1 oz) unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt

Heat the oven to 425°F.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor or blender and pulse several times to combine. Add the milk, eggs, and vanilla and blend continuously for 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides, and blend continuously for another 10 seconds or until there are no more lumps and the batter is frothy. Let the batter stand in the blender for 15-20 minutes to give the flour time to absorb the liquids.

Meanwhile, toss the cherries with the brown sugar. Scatter them in a 10-inch cast iron skillet or other oven-safe dish of similar size. Roast for 18-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cherries look wrinkled and their juices have turned syrupy.

Add the butter to the cherries and return the skillet to the oven for 2-3 minutes to melt the butter. Stir the melted butter into the cherries. Whiz the pancake batter to froth it up again and pour it immediately over the cherries. Don't stir.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. When finished, the edges of the pancake should be domed and turn deep brown while the middle should look puffed and golden. The dark cherry juices will make the edges look nearly burnt, but continue cooking until the middle looks done.

While the pancake is baking, prepare the sauce. Combine the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the butter has melted, and let the butter and sugar come to a boil. Off the heat, whisk in the cream, cinnamon, and salt. Return to heat and let the sauce come back to a boil. Immediately remove the pan from heat and set the sauce aside.

Serve the dutch baby as soon as it has finished baking. Drizzle some sauce over the entire pancake and then divide it into eight wedges. Serve with extra sauce on the side.

Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread ~Molly

I stumbled upon this recipe while trying to find something to bake with pumpkin that isn't pie or bars (I've already made-- and ate-- those things this month. Twice.) This bread isn't overly pumpkin-y but it's delicious! I followed the recipe exactly (except I used all-purpose flour instead), but you can knead by hand if you don't want to bread out the KithenAid. The dough is pretty sticky, so I make sure you use a ton of flour when you roll it out. If you want to see the original recipe, go here: http://willowbirdbaking.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/pumpkin-spice-pull-apart-bread-with-butter-rum-glaze/

Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour

Filling Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Butter Rum Glaze Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon rum 


Directions:
Make the pull-apart bread dough: Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, brown the 2 tablespoons of butter. Let it bubble and foam and when you see it start to brown, stir it so that it browns evenly. When it’s the color of dark honey, remove it from the heat and pour it into a large heat-safe mixer bowl to cool. In the same saucepan over medium-low heat, warm the milk until it bubbles. Remove it from the heat and pour it into the bowl with the butter. Let these cool until they’re about 100-110 degrees F (use a candy thermometer to check). Set the saucepan aside for another use later. I use the same one throughout the entire recipe; why do more dishes?

Stir the sugar and yeast into the milk/butter mixture and let it sit for about 10 minutes to proof (it should foam; if it doesn’t, discard it yeast and try again with new yeast). Stir in pumpkin, salt, and 1 cup flour. If you haven’t already, fit your mixer with a dough hook. Add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring between each addition. When the dough is combined, knead on low speed with a dough hook until smooth and elastic (about 4 minutes with a mixer).

Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Let it rise in a warm place for about an hour until it doubles in size (After it rises, you can put it in the fridge overnight to use it in the morning, but let it sit out for half an hour before rolling if you do.)

Make the filling: While the dough is rising, whisk the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Toward the end of the rising time, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter for the filling in the saucepan over medium-high heat and brown it as directed above. Put it in a small heat-safe bowl to cool for use later.

Shape and bake pull-apart bread: Knead a sprinkling of flour (about 1 tablespoon) into the dough, deflating it, and recover it. Let it sit to relax for 5 minutes. Flour a large work surface and turn your rested dough out onto it. Roll it out to a 20 inch long and 12 inch wide rectangle, lifting corners periodically to make sure it’s not sticking. If it seems to be snapping back, cover it with your damp towel and let it rest for 5 minutes before continuing (I had to do this twice during the process).

Spread the browned butter over the surface of the dough with a pastry brush and then sprinkle the sugar mixture over the top, patting it down to ensure it mostly sticks. Joy the Baker encourages you to use it all even though it seems like a ton, but I admit I got squeamish at the amount and only used most. It was fine despite my nerves. Go ahead and pile it on.

With the long edge of the rectangle toward you, cut it into 6 strips (do this by cutting the rectangle in half, then cutting each half into equal thirds. I used a pizza cutter). Stack these strips on top of one another and cut the resulting stack into 6 even portions (again, cut it in half, and then cut the halves into equal thirds). Place these portions one at a time into your greased loaf pan, pressing them up against each other to fit them all in. Cover the pan with your damp cloth and place it in a warm place for 30-45 minutes to double in size.

While dough rises, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or 325 if you have a glass loaf dish instead of a metal pan). When it’s risen, place the loaf in the center of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until dark golden brown on top (if you take it out at light golden brown, it’s liable to be raw in the middle, so let it get good and dark). Cool for 20-30 minutes on a cooling rack in the loaf pan while you make the glaze.

Make the glaze: In your saucepan, bring the butter, milk, and brown sugar to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove it from heat, add the powdered sugar and rum, and whisk it to a smooth consistency.

Assemble and serve: Use a butter knife to loosen all sides of the bread from the loaf pan and gently turn it out onto a plate. Place another plate on top and flip it to turn it right side up. Drizzle glaze over top. Serve each piece slightly warm with a drizzle of glaze.